Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an electronic copy to read in exchange for an honest review.

I love how the inventions presented here came about from mistakes. While the inventions are common the stories behind them are not. It is so important to highlight the positive power of making mistakes and of perseverance.

This is a really fun and interesting book, and it's wonderful to share with younger readers. It's so important to know that mistakes are okay and can sometimes even lead to great things. There are lots of engaging illustrations alongside the educational information. I can't wait to share this with the young people in my life!

This book sheds light on how some inventions were initially accidental discoveries. The book brings these stories to life through a unique combination of comic panels and prose, captivating readers with tales of resilience, innovation, and the power of turning setbacks into triumphs.

A great book showing that mistakes can be made (and were made by famous people) but if you just keep trying success will follow. I loved the quote from Thomas Edison ”I have not failed 10,000 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 10,000 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.” It summaries this whole book. It is so uplifting to know that inventions were not found on the first try. These intelligent people kept trying and finally succeeded. What a great message for children. Fun illustrations accompany the biographies.


I received an ARC from Andrews McMeel Publishing through NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion or rating of this book. I am voluntarily submitting this review and am under no obligation to do so.

I knew when I saw When Everything Went Wrong that I wanted to read it to my children. The next thing to think about was when to work it into our day. Our homeschool is based around reading aloud, but sometimes it’s hard to know when to fit in a particular title. I decided I could count a book about inventors as science, so for a week we read two chapters each day of this book. My three school children wanted more each time! I love it when a book brings that request.
This book is sort of a cross between a graphic book and a chapter book. There are ten chapters, each focusing on a different inventor. Each chapter begins with a page of history about the person, with a cartoonish picture of him or her on the facing page. Next are two-four pages in the style of a comic book about how the person perfected his or her most famous invention. After that are a couple more pages of text with more details about the invention, with more illustrations.
Some of the inventors described are well-known, such as Thomas Alva Edison with his light bulb or Guglielmo Marconi and the radio. Others are more obscure, like Jan Ernst Matzeliger and his mass-produced shoes or Wilson Greatbatch (what a name!) and the pacemaker. The other people featured in this short book are James Dyson, Margarete Steiff, Stephanie Louise Kwolek, Charles Goodyear, Percy Spencer, and John Stith Pemberton.
It seems that any book written in the style of a comic book is an instant hit with my children. They loved looking at the cartoon pages, and really enjoyed the way these people and their inventions were described. I thought this was a very effective way to briefly introduce a number of inventors and encourage children that mistakes are fine. We read a digital copy, but I would love to have this book on our shelves.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley, and these are my honest thoughts about it.

"When Everything Went Wrong: 10 Real Stories of Inventors Who Didn't Give Up!" by Max Temporelli and Barbara Gozzi is a book that tells the stories of 10 inventors who didn't let their failures stop them. The book is a mix of comic panels and prose, making it a fun and interesting read.

I believe this book contains valuable information for young minds and would be a great addition to any classroom or library and I appreciated the selection of inventors and the inspiring quotes included in the book. However, it may not be the best fit for all audience due to its different approach to delivering its message.

All the stars!

I wish there were a way to cross-label some children's books, so adults would also find them and feel like they were meant just as much for the older crowd. Not all would appeal, but books chock full of historical anecdotes like Max Temporelli'sWhen Everything Went Wrong: 10 Real Stories of Inventors Who Didn't Give Up! have so much to offer people of any age, it seems a shame to see them relegated to the elementary-middle school section of local libraries across the world.

That said, I learned so very much reading this treasure trove of entrepreneurial perseverance. Everyone from age 6 to 106 could learn something from these featured scientists and inventors who never took "no" for an answer, because they understood that every wrong brought them one step closer to right. No one gets burned at the stake for having outrageous ideas anymore, but they do still get criticized and even ostracized. The realization that no great advances happen without these ambitious and admirable geeks, swimming against the tide toward a vision only they can see, should be an inspiration to us all.

Great books make you think, and inspire you to greatness. This is exactly what When Everything Went Wrong: 10 Real Stories of Inventors Who Didn't Give Up! offers, in the most approachable and entertaining way possible.

I will update the review with the link to on our blog closer to publication date.

I'd like to thank the publisher Andrews McMeel Publishing and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review

Great book to teach kids that it's ok to make mistakes. I love the examples of how mistakes led to some amazing inventions.

Fun, interesting and educational. The comics and illustrations are great. How the information is presented make it easy to keep reading. Great way for young minds to learn.

No doubt an inspiring and encouraging book, with a few inventors who are household names and others not so well known but whose inventions are also used all over the world today.

I found some of the comics a bit disjointed as it’s incomplete.

3 and a half stars from me.

Very good positive spin on a history of science book, showing those times when results weren't coming, or things weren't going exactly as expected. Here Edison spends x thousand number of goes to get a decent workable lightbulb filament, but as he saw it every failure meant a successful crossing-off his ideas list. Here is a chap who invented a pacemaker by trying to record the heart but who ended up making just the wrong kind of kit instead by happy chance. Margarete Steiff thought she was making animal-shaped pincushions, but had to be told they were really good playthings instead.

I'd never knowingly read those last two stories, nor the one about the chap who automated shoe assembly, so this is pretty guaranteed to be educational for many. Each chapter is half plain text, half graphic novel, and some of those are really cheesy and ropey, but I still think there is something in this. The happy circumstance, the mistaken assumption and the sheer trial and error these stories feature are as I say ultimately optimistic, and I'd be that about the success of this title.

I have mixed feelings about this book. The inventors the author chose to highlight were great choices, and I really loved the quotes the author selected. I struggle with how the information is shared: half graphic novel and half informational text. It could be a good way to introduce one style to a student who prefers the other, but it makes it hard to decide who the best audience is. I also prefer the author lead the child to the moral rather than state it flat out. Overall, the information is good, but the format makes it hard for me to decide which student to hand it to.

This book is a mix of graphic nonfiction and actual text. It is engaging for kids because of the format it is written in. I think it is good for kids to see the struggles that inventors had before they were successful. Unfortunately, it is wordy in parts.

I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher.
This book covers ten inventors who, through mistakes and projects going wrong, were able to make some of the big inventions that we use today. The stories are told in a mix of prose and comics. The prose gives a short background on the inventor and the comic shows the process of invention.
These histories were interesting and not too long. Because they deal with more scientific topics, the book is best for a higher-level middle-grade reader.

Thinking outside the box, add in perseverance and see what happens!
The format is perfect for reaching those who learn a bit differently--rather like these inventors themselves. The predictable text format alternates with the comics presentations by Agnese Innocente which incorporate learning with color and more.
I geek history, so of course I loved this book!
Well suited for reading WITH someone of ANY age (including ESL) and great for gifting to anyone, but especially to a school or your public library!
I requested and received a free temporary e-book on Adobe Digital Editions from Andrews McMeel Publishing via NetGalley. Thank you!

Thank you, Andrews McMeel, for the advance reading copy.

With amazing comics and lust art sequences alongside brief introductions of each scientist who worked hard despite repeated failures and attempts, this book serves as a great teacher to tell us what it is like to work towards something greater if we believe in what we do.

The book has the stories about Edison, Marconi, and eight other scientists which we haven’t heard much about.

Love it. I would highly recommend this one for the classroom interactive sessions.

This book was great! As a biologist teaching both children and university students, I will definitely use it during teaching! It's something every child and adult should read since it provides proof, through stories of famous scientists, that making mistakes is not the end of the world! In fact mistakes help us move on, set the basis for further experimentations and fill us with patience and persistence. Great illustrations too!

Good educational book with a very strong message which is “Don’t Give up Keep Going as Long as You Can and Want.”
loved the illustrations and its style, so cute! You could see that there was such a hard work and lot of research to make this book not just full of interesting information, but also easy to read and enjoy. Overall pretty good book, absolutely recommend!
I just wish there were more women and people of color, and if the cursive font was less.. cursive? Because it’s kind of hard to understand the way it is now.

This book could be a great way to have educational conversations with the kids, you could make some interesting questions that’ll improve their Critical thinking and Brainstorming and their mind as whole :)

This book is about seeing 10 incredible people and their persistence that ended up inventing things that changed our world and all with an incredible message of inspiration for current generations.